European project on wastewater-based epidemiology EuSeME started

Within Watershare, we develop new insights and technologies to quantify the occurrence, the sources, the behaviour and the risks of emerging compounds in the water cycle. EuSeME (Europe-wide Sewage analysis to Monitor Emerging drug problems) is a project funded by the European Union’s Justice Programme’s Drugs Policy Initiatives. EuSeME aims to further develop Wastewater-Based Epidemiology (WBE) as an early warning system to monitor emerging drug problems across Europe. WBE is now an established approach in monitoring the consumption of a selection of illicit drugs. However, WBE can also become a valuable source of information about new drug-related threats, such as consumption of new psychoactive substances (NPS), licit and illicit opioids, as well as new trends in drug use (e.g., crack cocaine and cannabis).

This project will allow KWR and its partners, the University of Antwerp, the University Jaume I in Castellon, Spain, and the Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche Mario Negri in Milan, Italy, to further reinforce their position as leading institutes in the field of wastewater-based epidemiology, as well as perpetuate the fruitful collaboration between KWR and the European Commission and the European Monitoring Centre for Drug and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA). Furthermore, the activities involved in this project will allow KWR and partners to further develop and strengthen its (chemical) analytical capabilities. In fact, advanced and sophisticated analytical methods for the analysis and quantification of highly polar compounds in (waste)water samples will be developed.